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Historical Zinc Smelting in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with Estimates of Atmospheric Zinc Emissions and Other Materials

By Donald I. Bleiwas and Carl DiFrancesco

The metallurgical industry can be broadly divided into metal production from feedstock consisting of primary and secondary sources. Primary production refers to the extraction of metal derived from ores and concentrates. Secondary production refers to the recovery of metal from materials such as alloys, electric arc furnace dust, ingots, and scrap. The foci of this study are the histories of selected pyrometallurgical plants that treated mostly primary zinc feedstock and the atmospheric emissions, primarily zinc, generated by those plants during the course of producing zinc and zinc oxide in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

First posted July 7, 2010 Report PDF (4.2 MB) For additional information contact: Director, National Minerals Information Center U.S. Geological Survey 988 National Center Reston, VA 20192 http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF); the latest version of Adobe Reader or similar software is required to view it. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge.

Suggested citation:

Bleiwas, D.I., DiFrancesco, C., 2010, Historical zinc smelting in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with estimates of atmospheric zinc emissions and other materials: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010–1131, 189 p.

Contents

Executive Summary

Study Area and Smelter Site Locations

Synopsis of Historical Zinc Smelting in the Study Area

Methodology

Summary of Atmospheric Fugitive and Stack Emission Estimates

Acknowledgments

References Cited

Appendix 1. Types of Smelter Feedstock and Applied Technologies

Appendix 2. Profile Reports of Zinc Smelters